1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to ballet footwear. More specifically, the present invention concerns protective toe pads worn inside a ballet pointe shoe, which may include a silicone rubber insert designed to mold to the unique shape and configuration of a dancer's toes, so as to distribute the weight more evenly across a greater percentage of the surfaces of the toes and forefoot while en pointe.
2. Description of Related Art
Pointe shoes are a special type of shoe unique to the art of ballet dancing. As used herein, ballet shoe or shoe refers to pointe shoes. Pointe shoes provide support to a ballet dancer (usually female) when she stands balanced on the tips of her toes (“en pointe”). An icon of a ballerina's ethereal grace and beauty, pointe shoes were invented to create the illusion of lightness and lengthen the lines of the dancer. Although pointe shoes have evolved to become stronger in response to the demands of more rigorous and athletic choreography since they first appeared almost two centuries ago in the early 1800s, pointe shoes have otherwise changed little in their overall design, materials, and method of construction. A traditional pointe shoe provides support to the dancer who is “en pointe” through two basic elements: the box and the shank. The box is the rigid part of the shoe that encases the toes and forefoot, and it is constructed by reinforcing (“blocking”) the toe part of the shoe with layers of burlap, heavy paper, canvas, gauze/toile, etc., that are saturated with a special paste or glue. Each manufacturer generally uses a unique combination of materials and a proprietary formula for glue.
Stiffened by the glue or paste, the box lends support to the toes, and if fitted properly, generally hugs the foot across the metatarsal so that the sides of the dancer's foot are held in place. As such, her foot does not merely slide down into the tip of the shoe, which would cause her toes to buckle. A second load-bearing component of the shoe is the shank, which is a stiff insole typically nailed inside the shoe to provide support under the arch of the foot when the foot is en pointe. Generally made from redboard, a stiff cardboard, or even leather, the shank provides the required flexural strength to prevent the dancer's foot from rolling over or falling off pointe, as well as the compressive strength to support the vertical load from the dancer's body weight. Though initially quite stiff and unforgiving when brand new, pointe shoes gradually soften and “break in” over time, molding to the foot, until they reach the point where they are too soft and are considered “dead.” The process of “breaking in” may last anywhere from as little as one performance for a professional to several months for a student.
Pointe shoes are generally constructed and formed by hand on a symmetrical last. The pointe shoes are usually tapered to some extent and end in a squared-off flat tip called the platform on which the dancer balances. Unlike almost all other shoes, pointe shoes are formed in exactly the same shape for right and left feet. This was most likely originally for economical reasons during manufacturing, but also for aesthetic and functional reasons: a symmetrical shoe means a longer, straighter line and a wider platform to balance on. However, since right and left feet are so naturally different, such a design radically influences the quality of the fit, and the implications of such a design will be discussed later on.
Pointe shoes need to fit very tightly, almost like a glove, to provide the necessary support, to prevent the foot from sliding in the shoe, and to maximize control. However, the ease of finding a correct fit is extremely difficult; such a process may require the expert assistance of an experienced fitter (which is often hard to find), several hours of trying on shoes in a trial-and-error fashion, and the dancer being willing and able to articulate what she feels accurately. Young dancers, especially beginning 11-year-old students, may not always articulate their needs, either out of fear of embarrassing themselves or uncertainty about what the shoe is supposed to feel like. It is rare that a student continues wearing the same shoe with which she was first fitted. Most dancers eventually embark on an experimental quest for the “perfect” shoe, which often takes many years, if not all of their dance career, to find. Adding to the difficulty of finding a quality fit is the challenge for the retailer (usually a small specialty store) to stock a wide variety of brands, styles, and box shapes.
Despite the existence of many padding options, many dancers continue to suffer pain, discomfort, and eventually, damaged or deformed feet. One significant contributor is the basic challenge of fitting a human foot with its complex asymmetric, organic shape inside a blocky, geometric, and generic-shaped rigid shell. Simply due to the fact that the inner geometry of the shoe and the unique shape of the foot will never match perfectly, there are voids created inside the box of the shoe. Where the forefoot is in contact with the box of the shoe, high pressure points may develop, most commonly on the tip of the big toe (or the second toe if it is the longest toe) and the heads of the metatarsals. As used herein, the forefoot may refer generally to a portion of the foot including and proximate to the toes. The forefoot therefore may encompass one or more toes, including the tips and tops of the toes, as well as the cavity underneath the heads of the metatarsal. The problem created by high pressure points becomes even worse when the dancer is en pointe, for the majority of her weight is now distributed over these localized high-pressure contact points, a greatly reduced surface area from the plantar surface of the foot. Even where a shoe with a suitable box shape for a dancer's foot is used, its ability to completely support the foot by evenly distributing the weight over all surfaces of the forefoot is still limited. Presently, there are no pointe shoes that mold themselves completely to the configuration of the toes inside the shoe. Most fitters generally try to address this issue by fitting the shoe as tightly as possible, essentially forcing the foot to fit the shoe, which only increases the dancer's discomfort. These high pressure points inside the shoe can cause extreme pain for the wearer during dancing, and potentially threaten her with long-term injuries that could shorten her dance career.
Not only does the foot's natural shape not match the inside of a pointe shoe box, but to make matters more complicated, dancers' feet are as different as their faces. Besides differences in foot widths and lengths, which are accommodated by most other kinds of shoes, additional differences such as toe configuration can dramatically affect comfort and fit in a pointe shoe, which is designed for a wholly different kind of weight-bearing. It is estimated that one-third of the population has a second toe longer than the first toe, one-third has a first toe longer than the second, and one-third has both toes the same length. Consequently, where a dancer experiences pain depends entirely on her foot shape and how well it fits the shoe. Pain might be greatest across the metatarsal (on the bunion or tailor's bunion), on the tip of the longest toe, or be localized on any number of joints or knuckles, as well.
The plethora of foot injuries that plague pointe dancers is especially alarming considering that the average student begins pointe work at age 11, and the bones of the feet do not complete their final ossification (hardening and joining) until age 20-23. If the shoe is fit incorrectly, or the dancer does not have well-developed muscles, the force of the dancer's body weight on her feet and toes can cause malformation of the still soft and growing bones and joints. Different types of injuries can result from shoes that are incorrectly fitted either too large or too small. Shoes that are too large (or become too stretched out with use) can cause a dancer's foot to sink into the shoe and her toes to buckle. This can exacerbate bunions, cause hard corns or calluses to develop on toe joints, create blisters, and bruise the toenails (e.g., especially on the first and second toes). Shoes that are too small widthwise can over-compress the heads of the metatarsals and the toes, which can easily produce soft corns between toes, induce bunions, cause ingrown toenails, and even foot conditions such as Morton's neuroma (knotted nerve fibers that cause shooting pains in the ball of the foot). Dancers with a longer second toe have particular problems, and often find their second toe curled at the end of the shoe or buckling en pointe. Toes that are perpetually cramped may also eventually develop a deformity, such as a hammer toe, at which point no corrective exercises or stretching can restore the toe to its original shape.
These extremely painful conditions and potential long-term health hazards for dancers illustrate the dangers of a shoe that creates too many high pressure points on the foot, whether from lack of even support inside a too-large shoe with too many voids or conversely, from compression and jamming inside an overly-small shoe. Unfortunately, these high pressure points can cause significant damage over the long term. Toes and joints may become permanently disfigured if they are bent in ways they are not supposed to be for prolonged periods. Bumps may appear where undue pressure is applied, if the foot is not evenly supported or is forced to take the shape of the shoe. On a biological level, there is an increase in bone tissue where greater mechanical demands are introduced, which explains why the first toe joint may react to increased pressure by enlarging to form a bunion, or why a bone spur can appear on a bone or joint which suffers constant friction and stress. In such a process, a painful enlargement on the outside of the foot, referred to as a “tailor's bunion,” can occur on the small toe joint. Surgery is considered a last resort to correct any of these conditions, as even a slightly changed foot might seriously threaten the dancer's career. Embodiments of the present invention seek to provide a healthier environment for the foot in which the pointe shoe hugs all the surfaces of the forefoot evenly so as to more evenly distribute the forces it must bear.
Obviously, preventing long-term damage to the feet is a major concern for all dancers, and especially for professional dancers whose livelihood hinges upon their ability to consistently perform well. However, day-to-day discomfort is equally, if not more of, a concern for dancers than long-term damage. Despite myths about dancers who take pride in suffering in pointe shoes or who proudly show off their bloody feet, most dancers find that pain not only takes the enjoyment out of dancing, but it also removes the ability and motivation to push themselves on a daily basis, thus retarding their growth and strength-building as a dancer. Pain also dramatically reduces the ability to focus on other areas of technique and/or artistry, and thus directly detracts from performance.
From the time that ballerinas first began dancing en pointe, dancers have sought ways to protect their toes and mitigate the pain their art demands. For example, stuffing loose lambswool into the tip of the shoe or weaving lambswool around individual toes were early practices that still continue today. While soft at first, lambswool quickly packs down and becomes flat and hard, providing little support or cushioning.
Dancers through the ages have also worn various types of toe pads, which generally comprise an envelope to cover, protect, and cushion the toes, and which are similar in form to the cut-off toe of a sock. Toe pads or toe caps have been made from such various materials as rubber, fur, lambswool-fleeced fabric, foam rubber, and more recently, gel.
One of the most commonly used toe pads in the art today is a product known as an “Ouch Pouch,” which essentially is a thin, fabric-covered gel envelope for the toes (about ⅛″ uniform thickness throughout). While many dancers choose “Ouch Pouches” or other gel-lined toe pads, some dancers prefer less padding and choose to use something as simple as a paper towel (popular with many professionals).
It is without question that no one padding solution solves all problems for dancers. However, current padding solutions fail in at least three critical ways. First, by only providing one thin covering of uniform thickness, existing toe pads fail to address the natural disparity between the shape of the foot and the shape of the shoe, and thus do nothing to improve either the fit of the shoe or weight distribution inside the shoe. Secondly, such padding may not be suitable for dancers of all foot types, since individual dancers have unique needs for support based on the shape and toe configuration of their feet. For both of these reasons, a custom fit is crucial for ballet pointe shoes, because the entire weight of the dancer's body is distributed over a very small area, and a solution that is capable of adapting to the unique shape of the foot and toes will most efficiently maximize this area.
Third, existing padding solutions (including toe pads as well as other padding accessories) are designed to take a reactive approach to pressure points, that is, they seek to reduce pressure points inside the shoe by introducing additional cushioning or protective material to the area in pain. For example, students might choose to wear a gel toe pad with an exceptionally thick layer of gel in the big toe area, put a gel-lined elastic cap over their abused big toe, slide gel-lined sleeves over blister-prone knuckles, or use the ever-useful white athletic tape or masking tape to wrap tender toes or cover bony protrusions. However, a proactive approach of minimizing the high pressure points by filling the space around the pressure points, thus creating more even weight distribution, would solve many of these problems from the very beginning. Beyond being less effective in actually reducing targeted pressure points, padding products that operate from a reactive framework also create the additional problem of interfering with the dancer's level of control in the shoe. Though dancers generally have different preferences about what works best for them, most dancers and all teachers agree that padding should not interfere with the dancer's connection to the floor. Dancers often speak of needing to “feel the floor,” meaning both feel the ground underneath their toes while en pointe, as well as feel the ground underneath the balls of their feet while massaging the floor in a tendu. Though there are a few varieties of gel pads offered that provide a very thick (upwards of ⅜″) layer of cushioning under the big toe, they are typically highly discouraged by teachers and even dancers because they make it difficult to feel grounded. It is hard to have control over the shoe and be able to balance with confidence if a dancer feels as if she is levitating off the ground on a waterbed. Tradition, as far as padding goes, holds that less is more.
Although the idea of a customized, weight-distributing shoe or device may not be completely new to the art, the particular implementations in the market (or lack thereof) are fraught with numerous shortcomings, especially in the tradition-bound world of ballet.
For example, some currently available shoes may include built-in padding in the box of the pointe shoe. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,453 to Gaynor (filed Mar. 18, 1988) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,069 to Minden (filed Nov. 20, 1989), both titled “Ballet Slipper and Method of Making a Ballet Slipper,” describe a pointe shoe which seeks to address improved comfort. As such, the respective designs incorporate layers of resilient polymeric material lining the upper and lower surfaces of the shank, the interior of the box, and the exterior of the platform. While such foam linings (e.g., the PORON®) do provide some shock-absorption benefit and general cushioning, they actually do very little to make the shoe fit a particular dancer's foot better or to provide better support for the dancer's foot.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,046 to Clark et al. (filed Jul. 29, 1976) titled “Dancing Slipper with Self-Molding Toe Insert” describes a design for a pointe shoe which comes with a removable plastic insert that molds to the foot when heated. The insert is made of ethane vinyl acetate, which is boiled for a minute before being applied to the foot, similar to mouthguards in sports applications. Although it is designed to redistribute the weight and remove pressure from the big toe, the process of producing such an insert (i.e., through boiling) is rather clinical and technical, which makes it difficult to incorporate into the normal routines of ballet dancers. More importantly, though, ethane vinyl acetate is neither very resilient nor forgiving, instead being rather hard and uncomfortable. Such an insert additionally creates problems of perspiration.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,165 to Woodle (filed Oct. 30, 1990) titled “Custom Toe Cap for Ballet Pointe Shoes and Method of Weight Distribution” describes a silicone rubber-based custom toe cap which is molded to fit the tips of the shorter toes to provide more even weight distribution across the tips of all the toes. Woodle, a self-described podiatrist who creates these toe caps as part of his practice, explains that the toe caps can be fabricated by molding a putty-like settable compound about the bare ends of the shorter toes, slipping a plastic bag over the foot, and then putting the shoe on. The dancer stands en pointe for 10 minutes, and then on flat for 10 minutes while the material cures. The resulting toe cap can be trimmed as necessary, removing excess material from the top and bottom of the toes. Such a toe cap may provide firm support, but with a durometer between 20 and 40 on the Shore-A Hardness scale, the toe cap may also be more yieldable and comfortable than designs such as Clark's. Woodle's toe cap is limited, however, to the tips of the toes and ignores all other surfaces of the forefoot that may be available for even further equalizing the dancer's weight. The more surface area utilized, the greater the reduction in pressure (Pressure=Force/Area). As noted above, while many dancers feel the greatest concentration of pain in their longest toe, an equal number may also suffer significant pain on a bunion, on the side of their big toe knuckle, or on any other protrusion on their foot. Woodle's design seems targeted toward helping the first category of dancers in providing a toe cap, but does not fully address the issue of how to relieve pressure points other than the big/longest toe inside the pointe shoe, and thus is limited in its usefulness. Another problem with Woodle's solution is that mixing the compound with a few drops of curing agent is neither user-friendly nor accessible to individuals without any particular expertise or experience in molding toe caps. Finally, another issue is that the resulting toe cap must be held in place by tape or the dancer's tights. Many dancers prefer to not wear tights inside their pointe shoes, however, and in this case, the extra step of needing to tape on the toe cap is time-consuming and inconvenient.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,469,641 to Subotic (filed Jan. 30, 1995) titled “Custom Ballet Pointe Shoe,” a custom shoe is described that, in comparison to Woodle's toe cap, utilizes more surfaces of the forefoot than simply the tips of the toes, though the method for creating it is even more complicated and difficult. A pointe shoe is described which is designed to distribute the weight more evenly across all the toes and the top of the foot by injecting polyurethane foam or any other curable compound into the box. This cavity is enclosed by an impermeable liner (with an absorbent layer on the side facing the foot), and is accessed by a small injection hole in the platform of the shoe (to be covered by moleskin afterwards). One disadvantage of any kind of liner or skin acting as a barrier between the moldable material and the foot is that it can restrict the movement of the moldable material (e.g., to flow between and behind the toes), thereby resulting in wrinkles that can be irritating to the foot. Subotic also explains that the dancer should let the foam/material cure while standing flat for 40 minutes. Absurd time constraints aside, such a design is even more culturally incompatible than Clark's boilable insert and less user-friendly than Woodle's toe caps. Injectable shoes or boots may be common in the performance sports industry, but such a concept does not address the specific needs of ballet dancers. Additionally, the presumed expense, required mixing and injection equipment, and supervision of the process by a fitting specialist, would rule out such a solution from being easily accessible to dancers as a self-fitted, mass-customized solution.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,618 to Minden (filed Sep. 20, 1995) titled “Dynamic Toe Shoe Box Liner for a Pointe Shoe,” the design is partially successful in more evenly redistributing the dancer's weight, but falls short of providing a truly supportive, individualized fit for each uniquely shaped foot. The design comprises a set of “fast resistance” polyurethane foam pads that compress when the foot is standing flat, and expand to maintain a snug fit when the foot is en pointe. There is a trapezoidal piece that lines the whole box, two smaller strips for either side (used solo or in conjunction with the larger pad), as well as a crescent pad to support the shorter toes for dancers with a longer second toe. While the flexibility afforded the dancer to add or remove pads as desired offers customization, the uniform 1/16″ thick pads are no more helpful in contouring to the unique shape of the toes and foot than a gel “Ouch Pouch”.
In a final example, U.S. patent application publication US 2005/0022421 A1 by Bruckner (filed May 1, 2002) titled “Ballet Pointe Shoe” describes a shoe which is designed to redistribute the dancer's weight more evenly across all the toes through an asymmetrical shoe shell and an ergonomic liner. The shell has a crepe “patten” (build-up) on the outside over the shorter toes to make it look symmetrical (this reduces liner volume). The liner has to be custom-made through an involved casting process, whereby a negative cast of the dancer's foot is taken while en pointe in a “balance sustaining environment” (e.g., standing in a deep sand pit with her feet covered by plaster strips), then a positive mold is made, and then a dense close-celled foam is heat-molded on top. The application fails to explain, however, precisely how the liner's fit with the inner geometry of the box would be achieved. The obvious and most significant flaw with Bruckner's design is that the liner must be individually made for each dancer by way of an involved casting process. Not only would this be a time-consuming and costly process, but the set-up required would likely prevent such a concept from being implemented on a mass scale. Additionally, making a casting of the foot while it is in the “pointe” position will result in a liner that is ill-fitting and uncomfortable when standing or dancing on flat (when the entire sole or even just the ball of the foot in contact with the ground). To make a liner that will accommodate both of these positions, the dancer must alternate between the two during the casting process so that the resulting impression is a blend of the two.
Based on the understanding of the current array of problems related to the fit and wearing of pointe shoes, as well as a survey of prior solutions in the art, it is clear there is an immense need for innovative solutions that deliver an individualized, customizable fit for all dancers. Specifically, there is a need for a pointe shoe insert which addresses such issues as: 1.) the disparity between the shape of the foot and the shape of the pointe shoe, and the resulting painful and damaging high pressure points, 2.) the wide variety of foot shapes and toe configurations that must be supported in the “en pointe” position (creating a unique set of pressure points that varies from dancer to dancer), and 3.) the maze of challenges that confront the dancer in the quest for finding the elusive “perfect fit.” Additionally, it is imperative that such a solution satisfy these needs in a convenient, quick, and inexpensive manner (e.g., using a simple procedure the dancer can perform herself), without disrupting the traditional and conservative culture of the ballet world.